Addressing Ridiculous Criticisms

It seems my post about the "Passing of Protestantism" garnered some heated criticisms. Now it seems one commenter, dave, completely missed most of my points. Although I acknowledge I could expand and better explain my arguments in an entire treatise, I do not think it worthwhile. I'm a reasonable man, so I wish to reasonably address the comment, and explain the many ways it fails to recognize the truth of the situation. I confess in all fairness that there are many good little 'p' protestants and even good big 'P' Protestants. I define Big 'P' Protestants as people who were Christian but have knowingly and obstinately rejected certain certain teachings and adopted Protestant ones. Little 'p' protestants are Christians who are born into a Protestant upbringing and so are not sufficiently exposed to full Christian teachings.

My comment about Protestants supporting population control was not fair when we think about evangelical Protestants so thank you for pointing that out dave. However liberal Protestants are not exempt because they do support these sinful policies.

My commenter seems to be confused about what is a Protestant. He asks which particular Protestant denominations am I referring to when I use the word Protestant and lists a number of denominations. Well by definition they would all be Protestant denominations and since I didn't specify any in particular it's obvious that I'm referring to all of them.

Protestants don't really have a set definition of what makes a Protestant, so we must go to an outside source to get a clear definition. I turn to the Catholic Church as an expert on this matter. By the Catholic Encylopedia: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12495a.htm
A Protestant is someone who ascribes to at least one of the following beliefs:

• Sola Scriptura
• Sola Fide (or Justification by Faith Alone)
• Universal Priesthood of Believers but no priests
• Often associated with the movement is denial of Transubstantiation

Just as we use the word Catholic to conveniently refer to Roman Catholic, Ukrainian Catholic, Maronite Catholic Churches, etc. we use the word Protestant to refer to all Protestant denominations. Now that is truly helpful and simple. I'd rather use one word than list them all out!

Now I am deeply concerned for the existing communion Protestant churches share with Christ because what limited amout these dear people have is threatened by recent events. Some people may down play the whole rift in communion the Anglican communion is going through. However I see a sign of serious problems for the movement when it's largest communion is torn apart. I think to dismiss it is naive.

Again I say, the Protestant movement is destroying itself from the inside out. But what about American evangelicals? True they have ferver and it is still growing, but their core denomination, the Southern Baptists just broke communion with their liberal counterparts the Northern Baptist Convention.

Now since when is the truth unhelpful? The commentor's argument becomes incongruent when we look at the byproducts of American Protestantism. He brings up an important point, Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses are not Christian and are condemned by Protestants, illustrating a cycle of degradation from truth. Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, was a Methodist, and a number of family members were Presbyterians. Joseph Rutherford, the founder of Jehovah's Witnesses was a Baptist.

But we can even fault corrupt German Catholics and twisted heirarchies in Germany and England for Protestantism. This is the truth and is helpful to know. Those who do not know history as well as it's causes are doomed to repeat it. Is it unhelpful to know this? I'll let the readers decide.

Dave gives a point I concede to. I should have been more clear about which Protestant support abortion. Most Evangelicals do not support sodomy abortion in any form, including pills. Mainline Protestants of traditional Protestant communities do support these things. The American Prepbyterian communion supports abortion on demand. Although 60 years ago this traditional faith community did not.

There are no longer Protestant denominations that oppose contraception. Although I have heard the Amish and old order Mennonites oppose it but I cannot confirm.

The comparison of worship of the pagans to the Unknown God and anyone including Protestants worshipping God is a fully valid analogy. When the movement first began, Protestants worshipped the God of the Bible. Many liberal Protestants from the first denominations no longer do this. They no longer meet in community on the Lord's Day. They have no clue how God works through the Blessed Virgin Mary. They have less of an understanding of baptism and marriage. The fact that the United Church of Canada exists is testomony to the decay of faith. We can even make this comparison to Catholics. They no longer see the severity of contraception, and the necessity of going to Confession or Holy Matrimony or Holy Orders. And as long as people, especially Catholic and Orthodox Christians, do not acknowledge we worship a God of whom men know less and less we run the risk of Him becomming unknown to many souls.

If you read my works I do not at all compare the worship of Protestants to the Trinity to that of pagans and their false gods. But St. Paul compares the worship of the pagans to this Unknown God to the worship of Almighty God of Christians and Jews. In fact it's not even a comparison, it's an equality. This is really key to understanding the passage, and the evangelization of the pagan Greeks and Romans.

On another note, we can see the rise of witchcraft and paganism occuring in traditionally English speaking Protestant countries such as America, Great Britian and even Canada. J.K. Rowling, author of Harry Potter is even a self-described Protestant, albeit many Protestants would be ashamed to be associated with her.

So I hope this helps dave see some of the truth that is easily evident when history is considered, particularly the history associated with Protestantism kept by Catholics and the Church.

Definitely interesting discussion. I do love my protestant brothers and sisters and I look forward to promoting the Common Good, as defined by the authority of the Catholic Church (this includes the Holy Bible) with them.

Pax vobiscum,